| Part of the Tin Man Given to the Disabled |
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We didn’t really have a choice because our dear friends from all over the world had sent us so many books for our library that Tin Man, although it looked so big at first, proved to be too small to fit all those books inside. The library, let me remind you, was placed in one of the larger rooms in our school, and we started to look for a new role for our Tin Man. And recently we came up with a great idea! A part of this big container, which had been turned into three separate offices, will be turned into a workshop for disabled persons in the village! We decided to take that step, because in our parish there are about ten people who are confined to wheelchairs and there’s nothing for them to do. And you have to live from something, so we decided to help them. First we organized machine knitting training for two women who are semi-paralyzed. They had previously opened up a knitting shop of their own in the village - but in a room that was just too small and for which they had been paying a rent that was simply too high. Realizing that the rent was ‘swallowing up’ what little money they earned, they turned to us for help. I took one look at the still empty Tin Man and immediately decided, “we’re going to turn one of its rooms into a knitting workshop for the disabled”! They will be responsible for teaching the knitting techniques on the machines to other disabled people in the village. And we’ll do our best to obtain machines for each of them. It’s not going to be simple, because one machine costs around 320 euro. We’re going to need help, but I’m certain that people will be glad to help us with their donations so that all ten disabled people in our parish can get a job, using a machine in the Tin Man. And not only that; all of them will be provided with a meal every day in our Padri Vjeko Center. It truly is a “match made in Heaven”! Translated by: Branimir Mlakić |
